Chui Lee Luk grew up in Malaysia, visiting the markets early in the day – fascinated and repelled by how “gruesome” they could be. When she moved to Australia, she was introduced to French food, thanks to “one of the weirdest competitions I’ve entered ever”.

After a career dealing with stamp duty and commercial transactions, Chui found herself switching paths to work in restaurants – there she was, a former commercial lawyer learning how to cook from teenagers who had more culinary experience than she did. But the monumental change – and battle scars – were worth it, as Chui went on to become chef and owner of Claude’s, a Sydney institution that she never let become fusty – not only did she experiment with what appeared on people’s dinner plates, but Chui’s innovative approach saw tonnes of dirt being transported by crane into the restaurant for an art installation, with the chemistry of the soil magically lighting up LED lamps throughout Claude’s. This highly memorable experience did lead to some things unexpectedly going wrong, though – as Chui explains in the podcast.

She also talks about the under-representation of female chefs in the industry, missing French ingredients once she opened Chow Bar and Eating House, her most recent restaurant venture – a Chinese-style izakaya that has recently announced its closure, unfortunately.

You can listen to the podcast on iTunes or download it via RSS or directly. And a monumental thanks to everyone who has kindly spread the word about this podcast or left a rating or comment in the iTunes store – it makes the crazy 2.30am editing sessions worth it!

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About

Hi, I'm Lee Tran Lam. When not blogging with my mouth full, I'm usually writing, presenting Local Fidelity on FBi radio, making zines, producing podcasts or continually breaking promises about how I really am gonna get through my book pile one day.

All the good pictures on this blog are by photography ace (and patient boyfriend), Will Reichelt, (all the dodgy ones can be credited to me)!

The lovely banner is by friend and ultra-talented illustrator Grace Lee.

This site redesign was made possible by the next-level generosity and expertise of Daniel Boud, whose code-tinkering ways are only outranked by his seriously inspired way with a camera.